Last Updated on September 12, 2021 by Jim Ferri
3 days in Stockholm is just enough time to take a self-guided tour and get a taste of this wonderful city…
Estimated reading time: 12 minutes
By Jim Ferri
Three days in Stockholm is a perfect amount of time for a taste of one of Europe’s most beautiful cities. It has an ambiance and charm you’re hard-pressed to find anywhere else.
Stockholm, one of the top 10 places in Sweden, is an amazing amalgam of modern and medieval. And it’s all built on 14 islands and connected by 57 bridges. You can see more of it in these photos of the city.
Better yet, the city is stunning, most people speak English and, you can walk to many of its attractions.
Those not within walking range are linked by a modern transportation system that gets you there comfortably and quickly. Still, though, many Stockholmers ride their own bicycles.
While many people perceive Stockholm as being more expensive than many other European cities, on some cost rankings it doesn’t even rank in the top 10. And there are many ways you can economize in Stockholm, especially on food and drink.
Economize on Your Visit to Stockholm
A good way to keep costs down is to purchase the Stockholm Pass.
At SEK 989, (approximately $119 per adult for two days) the card initially appears expensive. But it provides free admission to more than 60 museums and attractions. And also free travel on a range of bus and boat tours. A two-day child pass – for 6-15 year olds – is SEK 389 (approximately $47). (All rates are for 2021.)
All in all, it provides great savings. In fact, you can use the card to get to, and into, many of the attractions listed below.
The following list is highly curated, and it covers many of the top spots of interest to first-time visitors. I had no trouble seeing everything during my 3 days in Stockholm. You should be able to also.
Visit Gamla Stan, the Old City
Begin your 3 days in Stockholm in Gamla Stan, the Old City. It’s Ground Zero for tourists and one of the best-preserved medieval places in Europe. It’s a fantastic area, one of the great treasures of Sweden.
Among other notable places, it’s home to the 608-room Royal Palace, the largest in Europe. The Royal family, however, no longer lives here but in Drottningholm Palace about seven miles outside of town.
Still though, the changing of its guard continues to be one of Stockholm’s most popular attractions.
You could spend an entire day wandering the cobbled streets and alleyways here, browsing in boutiques and antique shops, lunching in a restaurant or café, or enjoying a fika, better known as a Swedish coffee break.
The Nobel Museum, City Hall and Drottningholm Palace
Also in Gamla Stan is the Nobel Prize Museum on Stortorget, the city’s picturesque old square.
Housed in the old Stockholm Stock Exchange, the museum is a fascinating place and you could spend hours here.
It has displays about the recipients of the Nobel Prize over the years, and also a number of wide-ranging exhibits.
These include such things as the five colors of peace and the origin of the peace symbol itself (actually the logo of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament!).
After visiting the Nobel Museum you could also walk over to nearby City Hall. It’s a huge building on the harbor that took eight million red bricks to build, making it hard to miss. Moreover, it’s the venue for the Nobel Prize Award dinner that’s held every December 10.
Read More: How to Travel About Scandinavia on a Budget for 2 Weeks
Every tour of Stockholm should also include the interesting 45-minute guided tour of City Hall, it’s that interesting.
You’ll be impressed, especially in the Golden Hall, where the walls are covered with more than 18 million pieces of gold and glass mosaics, ranking it high on the “wow!” factor. The large scenes in the Byzantine-inspired mosaic depict events in Swedish history.
Near City Hall you’ll find old river boats moored along the quay. Some of them will take you to Drottningholm Palace, home of the Royal Family; it’s a very comfortable 45-minute river cruise that’s well worth it.
Visit the Incredible Vasa Museum
No tour of Stockholm, however, whether it be 1 day or 3 days in the city, is complete with a visit to the Vasa Museum.
When built in 1628 the Vasa was a huge warship, about 226 feet long, weighing more than 130 tons and designed to carry 145 sailors and 300 soldiers. Unfortunately, after sailing barely ¾ mile on its maiden voyage, Vasa keeled over and sank to the bottom of Stockholm harbor.
It stayed there for more than 300 years before being salvaged in 1961. Restoration of the vessel was painstaking, and took 17 years.
It is the only almost fully intact 17th-century ship ever salvaged. Today Vasa is housed in its own museum, the Vasa Museet, on the island of Djurgården.
There you’ll see the Vasa looking almost exactly as it did on its short-lived maiden voyage, sans its paint. There’s no other museum like this anywhere else in the entire world. And it’s particularly fascinating.
You’ll find it on the harbor shore, tucked away behind the Nordic Museum, and reached via tram #7. By all means, visit this museum, now the most-visited museum in Stockholm.
Spend Time in Skansen During Your 3 Days in the Stockholm
After leaving the Vasa you can continue on the tram to Skansen. It’s not only Stockholm’s zoo, but also a fascinating open-air museum, the world’s oldest. Until the opening of the Vasa Museum, Skansen was the most visited museum in the city.
Skansen contains 150 historic buildings brought there from all over Sweden. It’s a great place to enjoy a view of traditional Swedish life prior to the industrial age. If you have 3 days in Stockholm try to spend a couple of hours of it in the open-air museum. It’s quite interesting.
You’ll be amazed at how meticulously everything is brought together here…the cobblestone streets, a wagon on the side filled with barrels and luggage, little shops with people in costume so willing to talk with you.
I dropped into a small bakery and chatted with the rotund baker who showed me the things they’d been making.
Ten minutes later I was walking down a cobblestone lane watching geese cross into a garden up ahead. It’s a fascinating place that’s too-often overlooked by travelers. You could fill a good half-day of wandering about there.
To make best use of your time, take the #7 trams to the Vasa Museum when it opens at 10:00am. (Note that it is currently closed due to Covid-19) Spend a little time there, then take the #7 tram onward to Skansen. Wander about the museum and have lunch there.
Skansen is presently open but it is limiting the number of visitors to 5,000 at any one time.
I Love Skeppsholmen
One of my favorite places to visit is Skeppsholmen, a small-ish island between Djurgården and Gamla Stan. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, no tram runs through here.
You reach the island by walking across Skepps-holmsbron, a bridge adorned midway with a large gilded crown that people rub for good luck.
The bridge is quite popular, both because it’s the link between the National Museum on the “downtown” side and the Moderna Museet, the Museum of Modern Art, on the island.
Moderna Museet is a wonderful place both inside and out. Even if you don’t visit the collections inside, be sure to take a walk around the exterior to view the colorful fountains and sculptures.
Then continue on along the shore line to view the boats moored there. You’ll also have a superb view of Gamla Stan and the harbor, that’s especially good at sunset.
Wander About Östermalm on Your Stockholm Tour
After leaving Skansen or the Vasa Museum take tram #7 back downtown. As the tram crosses the bridge and runs along the shoreline you’ll be traveling on Strandvägen. It’s Stockholm’s answer to New York’s Fifth Avenue.
You’ll soon be entering the neighborhood of Östermalm, an area that’s a smorgasbord of upscale boutiques and outdoor cafés. It’s a great for an afternoon of wandering on a self-guided tour of the city.
If you wander through Östermalm during your 3 days in Stockholm, be sure to visit the Östermalm Food Hall. It’s a great Old World food hall set inside a beautiful old medieval brick building. lt’s also one of the five fantastic foods halls in Europe.
Inside you’ll find butchers, fishmongers, delis and cafes, as well as several restaurants and plenty of purveyors of gourmet products. It’s a delicious, colorful place where you’ll enjoy some good free samples, as well.
While you’ll find some foodstuffs there from Italy, Spain and Beirut, for the most part it’s Swedish.
Have a Drink in the Ice Bar
Bring your Stockholm tour evening to a close at the popular Ice Bar in the Hotel C Stockholm.
The place is exactly what the name implies: a bar totally made of ice, with the exception of the floor and ceiling. The temperature is kept at a constant -5˚C/23˚F. Even the glasses from which you drink are made of ice.
The cost of entry is SEK 199 per person (about $20 when booked online). That entitles you to one drink plus a parka and gloves (both are rentals and only for use in the bar).
It’s fun and very popular, and good fodder for cocktail-party chitchat back home.
If you go:
VisitSweden
655 Third Avenue
Suite 1810
New York NY 10017
Tel: (212) 885-9700
https://visitsweden.com/
Jim
Have you done anything on air/cruise port parking (I see a coupon below). We are sailing out of Port Everglades in Feb and parking at the Embassy Suites for 7 days for $27.37! They gave us an extra $1 off per day because we had over 6 cars. Last year I paid $46!
Dick Hoban
Dick,
No I haven’t done anything on air/cruise parking but that’s a good idea for an article. I hope that $27 is for the week and not per day!
We visited both the Vasa Museum and Ice Bar. The museum was very interesting, even for children. The Ice Bar was fun and, as you said, good fodder for conversations.
Stockholm is fanstatstic in the spring. My family and I try to visit Stockholm at least once a year.
My daughter loves to visit the Museum of Natural History (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_Museum_of_Natural_History) and of course Gröna Lund.
If you plan to visit Stockolm, do it in the summer or the spring, it´s so much nicer than in the winter or the fall!
Am visiting Stockholm in July – with kindly support from you. Thank you Jim
You’ll love Stockholm. In July be prepared for some long days and very short nights.